Glen Hansard (born 21 April 1970) is an Irish songwriter, actor, vocalist a… Read Full Bio ↴Glen Hansard (born 21 April 1970) is an Irish songwriter, actor, vocalist and guitarist for the Irish group The Frames, and one half of folk rock duo The Swell Season. He is known for his acting, having appeared in the BAFTA-winning film The Commitments, as well as starring in the film Once, which earned him a number of major awards, including the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Falling Slowly", with co-writer and co-star Markéta Irglová.
Career
Hansard quit school at age 13 to begin busking on local Dublin streets. He formed his own band The Frames in 1990, and the group have been gigging regularly in Ireland since. Hansard came to international attention as guitar player Outspan Foster in the 1991 Alan Parker film The Commitments. He has often stated that he regretted taking the role because he felt it distracted him from his music career. In 2003, he presented the television programme Other Voices: Songs from a Room, which showcased Irish music talent on RTÉ.
On 22 April 2006, he released his first album without The Frames, The Swell Season, on Overcoat Recordings in collaboration with Czech singer and multi-instrumentalist Markéta Irglová, Marja Tuhkanen from Finland on violin and viola, and Bertrand Galen from France on cello. Hansard also spent part of 2006 in front of the cameras for the music-infused Irish film Once, in which Hansard plays a Dublin busker, and Irglová an immigrant street vendor. The film had its United States premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007 and received the Festival's World Cinema Audience Award. During the promotional tour, he and Irglová began dating. Said Hansard about his relationship with Irglova: "I had been falling in love with her for a long time, but I kept telling myself she's just a kid".
Hansard had recorded a version of Bob Dylan's "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" for the film I'm Not There in 2007. In 2009, Hansard said that he and Irglova were no longer romantically linked, and that they are now "good friends".
Aside from his projects with The Frames and Irglová, Hansard also took part as a member of the band on the 2006 Oxfam charity album, The Cake Sale. Hansard has recorded several cover songs, both alone and with band member Colm Mac Con Iomaire, for the Today FM discs Even Better than the Real Thing. Songs that he has recorded include Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River" on Even Better than the Real Thing Vol. 1 and Britney Spears' "Everytime" on Vol. 2.
He voiced a role on an episode ("In the Name of the Grandfather") on The Simpsons as an Irish busker. A new album of original songs recorded as The Swell Season with Markéta Irglová and entitled Strict Joy was released on 27 October 2009 on the ANTI- record label.
In the summer of 2011, he joined Eddie Vedder on his American solo tour in support of Vedder's solo album, Ukulele Songs. He played a solo concert at the opening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Guitar Heroes exhibit in New York City in May 2011. and on Cape Cod at the Cape Cinema on 17 June.
In September 2011, he played at Pearl Jam's 20th Anniversary Festival PJ20 at the Alpine Valley Theatre outside of East Troy, Wisconsin. Hansard plays several guitars, including a very recognisable battered Takamine NP15 acoustic guitar (even sporting a large hole), which he calls "The Horse".
In a November 2011 interview in The Huffington Post with Irglova, it was revealed that Hansard was preparing a solo album and that there was a very possible third release from The Swell Season. This solo album was later revealed to be titled Rhythm and Repose.
American Songwriter included Hansard's "Love Don't Leave Me Waiting" on its The Muse July Sampler. Another song of his featured in a film soundtrack is This Gift, which appears in The Odd Life of Timothy Green.
Hansard sang the song "Take the Heartland" on the soundtrack for the 2012 film The Hunger Games. Another song he wrote, "Come Away to the Water", is featured on the soundtrack, but is covered by Maroon 5 and Rozzi Crane. Hansard can be found singing "Come Away to the Water" on the deluxe edition of his first solo album Rhythm and Repose. He guest-starred in an episode of the TV series, Parenthood, playing himself. In the episode, "Trouble in Candyland", he performed "High Hope", a single from his solo debut album Rhythm and Repose. In 2015, Hansard and Lisa Hannigan recorded a song, "On Love", for the soundtrack for the 2014 film Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet. Hansard sang Coyote at the Joni Mitchell 75th birthday concert Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration in Los Angeles in December 2018.
Influences
Hansard has remarked about his musical influences: "In my house, when I was a kid, there was the holy trinity, which was Leonard Cohen, Van Morrison, and Bob Dylan with Bob sitting centre." Hansard and The Frames toured as the support act for Bob Dylan in Australia and New Zealand in August 2007 and Hansard often performs Van Morrison's songs in concert. Two such songs include "Into the Mystic", and "And the Healing Has Begun" which were included on the collector's edition of the soundtrack for the film Once.
Hansard is a devotee of Krishna and performed for the 80th birthday of Swami Prabhupada in London, staying at a manor donated to the Hare Krishna movement by The Beatles' George Harrison, who was a Hare Krishna devotee. In July 2013, he sang with Bruce Springsteen at Nowlan Park, Kilkenny, Ireland. In July 2015, he performed "Raglan Road" with Ed Sheeran in Croke Park, Dublin.
Other
In 2008, Hansard took a four-week filmmaking workshop at the New York Film Academy.
In 2016, Hansard was a prominent member of the Home Sweet Home Group, a coalition of activists and homeless. The group broke into Apollo House in Dublin and illegally occupied it. They eventually had to vacate the premises due to trespassing.
Career
Hansard quit school at age 13 to begin busking on local Dublin streets. He formed his own band The Frames in 1990, and the group have been gigging regularly in Ireland since. Hansard came to international attention as guitar player Outspan Foster in the 1991 Alan Parker film The Commitments. He has often stated that he regretted taking the role because he felt it distracted him from his music career. In 2003, he presented the television programme Other Voices: Songs from a Room, which showcased Irish music talent on RTÉ.
On 22 April 2006, he released his first album without The Frames, The Swell Season, on Overcoat Recordings in collaboration with Czech singer and multi-instrumentalist Markéta Irglová, Marja Tuhkanen from Finland on violin and viola, and Bertrand Galen from France on cello. Hansard also spent part of 2006 in front of the cameras for the music-infused Irish film Once, in which Hansard plays a Dublin busker, and Irglová an immigrant street vendor. The film had its United States premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007 and received the Festival's World Cinema Audience Award. During the promotional tour, he and Irglová began dating. Said Hansard about his relationship with Irglova: "I had been falling in love with her for a long time, but I kept telling myself she's just a kid".
Hansard had recorded a version of Bob Dylan's "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" for the film I'm Not There in 2007. In 2009, Hansard said that he and Irglova were no longer romantically linked, and that they are now "good friends".
Aside from his projects with The Frames and Irglová, Hansard also took part as a member of the band on the 2006 Oxfam charity album, The Cake Sale. Hansard has recorded several cover songs, both alone and with band member Colm Mac Con Iomaire, for the Today FM discs Even Better than the Real Thing. Songs that he has recorded include Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River" on Even Better than the Real Thing Vol. 1 and Britney Spears' "Everytime" on Vol. 2.
He voiced a role on an episode ("In the Name of the Grandfather") on The Simpsons as an Irish busker. A new album of original songs recorded as The Swell Season with Markéta Irglová and entitled Strict Joy was released on 27 October 2009 on the ANTI- record label.
In the summer of 2011, he joined Eddie Vedder on his American solo tour in support of Vedder's solo album, Ukulele Songs. He played a solo concert at the opening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Guitar Heroes exhibit in New York City in May 2011. and on Cape Cod at the Cape Cinema on 17 June.
In September 2011, he played at Pearl Jam's 20th Anniversary Festival PJ20 at the Alpine Valley Theatre outside of East Troy, Wisconsin. Hansard plays several guitars, including a very recognisable battered Takamine NP15 acoustic guitar (even sporting a large hole), which he calls "The Horse".
In a November 2011 interview in The Huffington Post with Irglova, it was revealed that Hansard was preparing a solo album and that there was a very possible third release from The Swell Season. This solo album was later revealed to be titled Rhythm and Repose.
American Songwriter included Hansard's "Love Don't Leave Me Waiting" on its The Muse July Sampler. Another song of his featured in a film soundtrack is This Gift, which appears in The Odd Life of Timothy Green.
Hansard sang the song "Take the Heartland" on the soundtrack for the 2012 film The Hunger Games. Another song he wrote, "Come Away to the Water", is featured on the soundtrack, but is covered by Maroon 5 and Rozzi Crane. Hansard can be found singing "Come Away to the Water" on the deluxe edition of his first solo album Rhythm and Repose. He guest-starred in an episode of the TV series, Parenthood, playing himself. In the episode, "Trouble in Candyland", he performed "High Hope", a single from his solo debut album Rhythm and Repose. In 2015, Hansard and Lisa Hannigan recorded a song, "On Love", for the soundtrack for the 2014 film Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet. Hansard sang Coyote at the Joni Mitchell 75th birthday concert Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration in Los Angeles in December 2018.
Influences
Hansard has remarked about his musical influences: "In my house, when I was a kid, there was the holy trinity, which was Leonard Cohen, Van Morrison, and Bob Dylan with Bob sitting centre." Hansard and The Frames toured as the support act for Bob Dylan in Australia and New Zealand in August 2007 and Hansard often performs Van Morrison's songs in concert. Two such songs include "Into the Mystic", and "And the Healing Has Begun" which were included on the collector's edition of the soundtrack for the film Once.
Hansard is a devotee of Krishna and performed for the 80th birthday of Swami Prabhupada in London, staying at a manor donated to the Hare Krishna movement by The Beatles' George Harrison, who was a Hare Krishna devotee. In July 2013, he sang with Bruce Springsteen at Nowlan Park, Kilkenny, Ireland. In July 2015, he performed "Raglan Road" with Ed Sheeran in Croke Park, Dublin.
Other
In 2008, Hansard took a four-week filmmaking workshop at the New York Film Academy.
In 2016, Hansard was a prominent member of the Home Sweet Home Group, a coalition of activists and homeless. The group broke into Apollo House in Dublin and illegally occupied it. They eventually had to vacate the premises due to trespassing.
Devil Town
Glen Hansard Lyrics
We have lyrics for 'Devil Town' by these artists:
Ben Caplan I was living in a devil town I didn′t know it…
Bright Eyes I was living in a devil town I didn't know it…
Bright Eyes (Cover) I was livin' in a devil town Didn't know it…
Cavetown Life's alright in devil town They're right, no one's gonna c…
Cavetown - Topic Life's alright in Devil Town We're right, no one's gonna cat…
Daniel Johnson I was livin' in a devil town Didn't know it…
Daniel Johnston I was living in a Devil Town Didn't know it was…
daniel johnston - I was livin' in a devil town Didn't know it was…
Groovie Ghoulies [Originally by Daniel Johnston] I was living in a devil tow…
Kevin Devine & Cavetown Life's alright in Devil Town We're right, no one's gonna cat…
The Builders and the Butchers There's a moon-shaped hole in the night sky A forest fire…
Tony Lucca I was living in a devil town Didn't know it was…
We have lyrics for these tracks by Glen Hansard:
11. Song of Good Hope If we're gonna make it 'Cross this river alive We need to…
All the Way Down You have broken me all the way down Down upon my…
And The Healing Has Begun And we'll walk down the avenue again And we'll walk down…
As You Did Before Your arms mean more to me than flowers, don't leave…
Bird of Sorrow Even if a day feels too long You feel like you…
Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy Ten years ago I fell in love with an Irish girl She…
Broken Hearted Hoover Sucker Guy Ten years ago I fell in love with an Irish girl She…
Brother's Keeper First of October The summer's over The leaves are falling Al…
Come Away to the Water Come away little lass come away to the water, To the…
Cry Me a River You were my sun, you were my earth But you didn't…
Drive All Night When I lost you honey sometimes I think I lost…
Fallen Form the Sky You must have fallen from the sky You must have shattered…
Falling Slowly I don't know you But I want you All the more for…
Grace Beneath the Pines No more backing down, you'll see Whatever lies in store…
Her Mercy When you're kneeling through the hours And you're doubting y…
High Hope I'm workin' on the high hope And if it all works…
I'll Be You Be Me Your love's a bunny snare Traps me in the evening Got me…
If You Want Me Are you really here Or am I dreaming I can't tell dreams…
Just to be the One Your love's a bunny snare Traps me in the evening Got me…
Lay Me Down I will write you letters that Explain the way I′m thinking…
Leave And leave a light on in your lonely window And the…
Lies I think it's time, we give it up And figure out…
Love Don Love, you've been hesitating You've been hanging on for tha…
Love Don't Leave Me Waiting Love, you've been hesitating You've been hanging on for that…
Lowly Deserter Lowly deserter, sing that old song And sing a new one…
Lucky Man Well it's gonna be a lucky man That gets to take…
Mary Love is a language you can speak so eloquently And I've…
Maybe Not Tonight Echoes of another time Playing lightly on my mind There's ma…
McCormack's Wall Well, I've not been honest, darlin' No, I've not been straig…
My Little Ruin Come on, my little ruin Won't you open up and let…
Once Part of me had died Won't return And part of me wants…
One of Us Will Lose Some of us will [?] the following Some were made to…
paying my way Well, you can't just get what you want Without a little…
Pennies in the Fountain The only way to hold on to this love is…
Philander Stuck in the corner I'm kissin' my Philander She never sai…
Races Slidin' along by the Seine, it's May Day, this song's…
rare bird Rare, rare bird Abide with me. Don't give yourself Too easil…
Renata Renata, you have put me down, Like a toy you no…
Roll On Slow Roll on darling Roll on slow I'll take you with me Wherever …
Say It to Me Scratching at the surface now And I'm trying hard to work…
Sleeping Are you sleeping? Still dreaming? Still drifting off alone. …
Song Of Good Hope Well I call this room to order Gather 'round now, hear…
Stay the Road Tired, tired eyes look up and see All you've done, the…
Step Out Of The Shadows We're all bound by certain forces The same as any one Step…
Take the Heartland I'm gonna hide my heart behind the peacock's fan And keep…
Talking with the Wolves Simon You are the model of your age Don't let the bastards…
The Closing Door The closing door The end of people His likes no more Go tell…
The Hill Walking up the hill tonight, and you have closed your…
The Song of Good Hope Well I call this room to order Gather 'round now, hear…
The Storm Naked from the fee From the decade of the bees On a…
This Gift This gift will last forever This gift will never let you…
Time Will Be The Healer Time will be the healer once again Time will lift you…
Trying Breaking up in the station, a final train I don't even…
Wedding Ring Where you running to now, baby Running all the time Where yo…
What Are We Gonna Do What are we gonna do If we lose that fire What are…
Wheels on Fire Well you say, you won You'll work until the work is…
When Your Mind's Made Up So, if you want something And you call, call Then I'll come…
Why Woman If you leave me Leave me guessing darling Then I guess you'r…
Winning Streak Through summers long and Winters cold May you always have…
Wreckless Heart Wreckless heart Take hold of the wheel You're headed for a f…
You Will Become In time, this won't even matter This chapter will be long…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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@pitaats2
Oh, I do so love these two !!! Wonderful rendition of Devil Town. I wish they would make another CD.
@Tuigim
Míle,míle maith agaibh! What an amazing combination these two voices!
@fashnek
Not a fan of the song, but this is my favorite version. The Swell Season is always great.
@dboyd1089
i can't get enough of marketa's "oooooh devil town" near the end... 2:50 <3333
@meikelkorleone
great to have it back online. can't get enough of'm thanks.
@shaunack4
yeah i love the bright eyes version, but this is good!!
@dboyd1089
bright eyes version can't even compare to glen and mar.... bleh. Glen and Mar are the besttttttttttttt!!! <333
@dwilson94
fun song.